spirit in the house - stands alone

we have had two shows at spirit in the house for Stands Alone featuring kohl miner in his storytelling series; and sigwan and kohl in borders uncrossed. kohl tells funny and poignant stories of his life as a gay native man. the second half of the show showcases sigwan as a young girl dumped by coyotes on the border - it also includes the initial scene of the native american federal parolee

yesterday sigwan answered questions about her acting; her opinion of her involvement and take on the border show she was originally cast in and let go from

yesterday we were honored to have big name guests in the audience: Juliana Pegues who wrote Q&A which is running at Mixed Blood theater in Minneapolis; and Bao Phi who stars in Q&A (sigwan is a big fan of Bao)

also Elizabeth O’Sullivan who wrote and stars in a show here at the fest: Witnessing to a Murder
Two women meet briefly in a hallway. Gunshots kill one of them send the other crashing through the boundaries that separate her from horror and from the voice of God.

Spirit in the House

Spirit in the House

Stands Alone
curated by Marcie Rendon, Raving Native Productions

Featuring:
Kohl Miner: The SemiConscious Memoirs of a Negligent Native
and!

Sigwan Rendon and Kohl Miner in: Borders Uncrossed
the uncut opening of Borders Uncrossed
the US/Mexican border from a Native perspective

5:30pm May 24 - Saturday - Kohl, Sigwan and Kohl
7pm May 25 - Sunday - Kohl, Sigwan and Kohl

Thursday, May 29, 5:30 PM - Kohl Miner and Amy Salloway
Friday, May 30, 7:00 PM - Kohl, Sigwan and Kohl
Saturday, May 31, 2:30 PM - Kohl, Sigwan and Kohl

at: Spirit in the House
The Art Gallery (upstairs in the church)
Hennipen Ave Methodist Church
511 Groveland Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55403

$12 adults, $10 Student and Senior
$8 kids under 12. Available at the door

have been in california for this week - yesterday was a heat wave; quite the experience for this minnesota body not yet acclimated to summer weather - i wilted by late afternoon in the heat approaching 100 degrees. i have been thinking about indigenous people and how we have our tribal identity - based on language, spiritual beliefs and connection to a particular piece of land, area of land. so many indigenous people have been led to believe, through genocide and forced assimilation, acculturation that they are singularly 'indigenous' - 'native' - or some national identity - this erasing of tribal identity appears to create much internal confusion, and also lessens the ability to relate with other tribal identified folks. it is heartbreaking in the same way of meeting folks who are the product of foster/adoption out who have not figure out how to come home. we recognize them as family but it is like they cannot see us as them.... that was one of the strengths of the indigenous conference - the peoples there KNEW who they were and stood firmly in their selves, their tribal identities and their sense of belonging. this is my hope for all native peoples - that we can all find once again that being, that place, that sureness of being and standing exactly where we are - belonging there/here.

yesterday at the indigenous theater conference we heard from isabel juarez espinoza, an indigenous actress from chiapas; about her struggles becoming an actress in the face of sexism and how other women are now joining the company and it has become a place of empowerment for the women who come to the city.  they are using theater to address issues of self-esteem, domestic violence.   beth piatote, from UC Berkley read an amazing poem about being taught beadwork - it is one of those stories that might be best heard; as she did it with the rez accent - very cool.  it is published in a book called Reckonings, out of Oxford Press.  Carolyn Dunn sang, as did Roberta Hill Whiteman.  And i believe it was Javier Castellanos who had the translators laughing to the point of tears in their attempts to translate his work about suicide feelings as a political refugee in the north, way north - if i have the wrong name i will post it later; he apparently is hilariously funny - it was one of those times when folks were laughing, trying to translate and i think those of us listening got lost in the laughter.  Today is the last day of the conference.  It has been incredibly powerful to see this reminder of the prophecies about the meeting of the eagle and the the condor.

i am currently at the Indigenous Writers of the Americas Conferences - Discursive Practices: the Formation of a Transnational Indigenous Poetics at the University of Davis, California.  To be in the presence of indigenous writers, poets, playwrights, scholars and artist/healers from across the two continents is amazingly encouraging, hopeful and healing.  To not have to question or censor ones words, ones thinking and to be understood beyond the borders of language, education, class or imposed nationality is very affirming on a spiritual and creative level.

The entire conference is being translated back and forth between spanish and english with many of the participants initially speaking in their original language first.  It is beautiful.

Last night we heard from Frank LaPena, Jorge Cocom Pech, Graciela Huinao, Victor Montejo, Fredy Romeiro Campo Chicangana and Joy Harjo.  And there are two more days to go.

i spoke last night on KFAI with rhiana yazzie, harry waters and meena natarajan about native theater here in minneapolis/st. paul.  the 30 minutes flew by. the program can be heard online for the next two weeks by going to the KFAI site - Womanspeaks.  

 i spoke today with a non-native playwright who talked about power structure within the theater arts community.  when she talked about power imbalance i said that i use the term racism when i feel that non-native people are using their power to overpower another's voice when that other person is non-white.

while this period of time has been frustrating and hard it is also good the number of conversations that have happened as a result.  

creating warmth

i used to sew quilts.  i would save what i considered the most beautiful pieces of fabric to sew into beautiful coverings.  i remember going to a theater company and collecting bags of satin and velvet scraps leftover from costume making for a Shakespeare production.  i turned those scraps into a beautiful patchwork quilt that i gave away at a yearly giveaway.  As i look through the pages and pages of text and dialogue that was not been used in this most recent production masquerading as my work, i realize that the best work got dropped on the cutting floor and left for me to re-vision.  a friend in the community has organized a healing ritual, after which i will began to sew these dropped pieces of text into a new body of work.